


The Rest is Confetti

by JeromeClarke107



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Angst, Cuddling, Dialogue Heavy, Drabble, Goodbyes, M/M, all of the angst, also Abed watches all the things, including the scary and emotionally draining things apparently, quote from the haunting of hill house, takes place right before episode 5.05 - Geothermal Escapism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:41:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27102868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeromeClarke107/pseuds/JeromeClarke107
Summary: Troy Barnes spends the last night before his trip laying beside Abed on the bed, thinking about the inevitable end and all of the things he's never said.Abed Nadir copes the only way he knows how: through tv.
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 3
Kudos: 45





	The Rest is Confetti

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished The Haunting of Bly Manor (100% recommend btw) and had a callback to a quote that I loved from The Haunting of Hill House.
> 
> Also, I kind of wanted to try a little bit of a different writing style beyond my usual rambling blocks of description and inner thought. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Written for a prompt on the first Angst/Fluff prompt list by hellsdemonictrinity on Tumblr.
> 
> Prompt 22: This isn't goodbye.

Troy and Abed lay on opposite sides of the bed, the silence creating oceans between them, their brown eyes filled with emotion that’s been lingering unexpressed between them for years.

Troy speaks first, a whisper. A breath.

“I miss you.”

“You’re not gone yet.”

“But you’re acting like I am.”

“I’m just trying to make sense of my new narrative.”

“What doesn’t make sense?”

“You aren’t in it. I thought you’d always be in it.”

“I’m still in it.”

“Not like you used to be.”

Troy bites his lip.

“Let me make it make sense. Talk to me, Abed.”

“What if I never see you again?”

“You will. I’ll see you every time I close my eyes. Every time I blink.”

Abed shakes his head.

“That doesn’t count. Things that happen off-screen don’t count.”

“Why?”

“Because they aren’t real.”

“Then ask me something different. Something on-screen.”

Abed seems to think for a moment, the moonlight casting shadows across his face.

“This feels like goodbye.”

“This isn’t goodbye. Nothing ever has to be goodbye if we never say it.”

“I don’t want to say it.”

“I don’t want to either.”

Silence. Tension that’s never existed between them before tonight.

Troy breaks it.

“I love you. I’ll always love you.”

“You’ve never said that before.”

“I’ve always felt it. I should’ve said it.”

“It’s ok. I knew.”

“I still wish I’d said it. I wish I’d said it all of the hundreds and hundreds of times I felt it. I wish I’d said it every day.”

“It’s ok. I knew. You didn’t have to say it.”

Troy bridges the distance, now only a few inches across the bed. Tomorrow, after dawn, there will be real oceans separating them. He won’t be able to hold Abed’s hand anymore.

“It’s ok that you didn’t say it. You didn’t have to. I knew. That’s all that mattered. The other stuff, the details...they aren’t important.”

Troy nods.

“I loved you so much.”

He pauses. When he speaks again, his voice breaks off in the sob he’s been holding back all night.

“ _Love_ you. I _love_ you so much.”

Abed nods.

“And nothing else matters.”

“Nothing at all.”

Troy curls closer to him, takes Abed in his arms and presses their bodies together, desperate to soak in as much of his friend as possible before his imminent departure.

“It’s just confetti.”

“Hmm?”

Abed presses his face into Troy’s neck, takes in a shaky breath.

“That’s all. The rest is confetti.”

Troy doesn’t have time to figure out why it sounds so familiar, where he’s heard it before or why it seems so significant, before he’s falling into a peaceful sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> "I loved you completely and you loved me the same. That's all. The rest is confetti."
> 
> \- Nell Crain, The Haunting of Hill House


End file.
